Prior proposals have been made to use catalysts in smoking articles where the catalyst is mixed with a carbonaceous material to form a combustible fuel element (U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,684). It has also been proposed to use an aerosol precursor of ceramic material for forming an aerosol in a smoking article (U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,820). The coating of a fuel in a smoker's cigarette with ceria also have been proposed (U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,551).